Sarah Palin and Christine O'Donnell - Grifting for America

The teabaggers seem to go by many different names. It's not a single organization and new tea parties pop up here and there all the time...

I googled "tea party" and found teaparty.org, teapartyexpress.org, teapartynation.com, teapartypatriots.org on the first page. I'm sure there are more.

Wikipedia lists some of the supporters of the Tea Party Movement:

The movement has been supported nationally by prominent individuals and organizations, including:

501(c)(4) Non-Profit Organizations:

- Tea Party Patriots, an organization with more than 1,000 affiliated groups across the nation that proclaims itself to be the "Official Home of the Tea Party Movement.
- Americans for Prosperity, an organization founded by David H. Koch in 2003, and led by Tim Phillips. The group has over 1 million members in 500 local affiliates, and led protests against health care reform in 2009.
- FreedomWorks, an organization led Dick Armey. Like Americans for Prosperity, the group has over 1 million members in 500 local affiliates. It makes local and national candidate endorsements.
- Tea Party Express, a national bus tour run by Our Country Deserves Better PAC, itself a conservative political action committee created by Sacramento-based Republican consulting firm Russo, Marsh, and Associates.

For-Profit Businesses:

Tea Party Nation, which sponsored the National Tea Party Convention that was criticized for its $549 ticket price.[103][104][105][106] and because Sarah Palin was apparently paid $100,000 USD for her appearance (which she put towards SarahPAC.)

Informal Organizations and Coalitions:

- The National Tea Party Federation, formed on April 8, 2010, by several leaders in the Tea Party movement to help spread its message and to respond to critics with a quick, unified response.
- The Nationwide Tea Party Coalition, a loose national coalition of several dozen local tea party groups.

Michele Bachmann will be addressing a rally in Des Moines tomorrow, an event organized by the long established Tea Party Express.

Sarah Palin and Christine O'Donnell will appear at another event on September 3, organized by the newly formed Tea Party of America. One of the co-founders left Herman Cain's campaign to form this new group. Both Palin and O'Donnell took part in earlier Tea Party Express rallies.

I find this teabagging thing very confusing. It looks like a bandwagon, with people jumping on it for reasons that don't appear to be very clear.

The formation of his latest arm of the so called Tea Party, by being associated with two grifters like Sarah Palin and Christine O'Donnell, may have been motivated by opportunism and greed.

Some people have been talking about Sarah Palin running for a third party, but I can't see all these different groups coming together to form a single party. The organizers of each group would have to get off their individual gravy trains and defer to a single central entity. Also, if they form a party for Sarah Palin's benefit, what would they do with Michele Bachmann?

There must be a deadline for registering a new party in time for the 2012 elections, but I couldn't find much about it.

The Tea Party rhetoric is disruptive and poisonous to the political discourse, but as a party they simply don't exist.

When I started researching this post, I hoped to write something enlightening, but ended up more confused about the whole thing than before...

I suspect that's exactly the goal of the Tea Party Movement: To spread confusion.

American Stand-up Comedian Introduces the Tea Party to the Brits

That was Rich Hall, live at the Hammermith Apollo. Meanwhile, in Madison, Wisconsin, Sarah Palin didn't have the reception she expected:





The following video is longer, but shows that the Tea Party is not that strong:



(H/T to readers Barbara Carlson and Austintxx for the Madison videos.)

What I saw as I wandered through last week's Wasilla Tea Party rally

By Bill Hess - Wasilla, Alaska, by 300

The following is an excerpt from Bill Hess's post: What I saw as I wandered through last week's Wasilla Tea Party rally

Of course, it is always a little bit challenging to remain respectful and civil when right away after you get out of your car and walk into the crowd you come upon the smiling face of a man who is telling you that you have a mental disorder. I know it doesn't really mean anything. It is just rhetoric. Everyone does it. So what the hell. Let him wave his sign.

I wonder, though - why is he wearing Mickey Mouse boots? And why is his friend wearing Bunny Boots? Those boots are designed for 40 below and it was 40 above.

One could develop sweaty feet this way. It still gets pretty cold at night. Maybe they were out all night, setting up.

And you who wave that flag just remember that it is not a conservative flag, it is an American Flag. Yes, wave it with pride, but don't forget that we who see the political situation differently than you do also love that flag - no less than do you.

Never have I felt more proud than I did on that day when I saw that flag draped across my father's casket as he was carried to his grave by six of his fellow warriors. They were much younger than he and I knew that some had fought or soon would fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. Maybe one or more would themselves return in a flag-draped coffin.

I looked at those soldiers who carried my father and I felt love - pure love; strong, heart-piercing love. Tears streamed down my face and they were not all tears of grief. There was pride in those tears. Afterward, I thanked them, but I owed them so greatly that I knew my thank you to be vastly inadequate.

Remember after 9/11, how flags few from just about every home, be it occupied by conservative, liberal, middle of the road, unsure?

And then there was that very chilly January 20 of last year, when I stood with my youngest daughter and wife in the midst of two million others on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Two million people, two million flags, all waving, people smiling, people cheering, tears of pride streaming down cheeks - white cheeks, black cheeks, brown cheeks, yellow cheeks, red cheeks; all the cheeks of a diverse America; an America that had become a place of greater equality and thus greater potential than had been the America that I grew up in.

And then, as we waited in the chill for the hour when the man who, under the provisions laid out by the US Constitution had been duly elected as President would be sworn in as Commander-in-Chief, images of Bruce Springsteen and Pete Seeger appeared on the many gigantic screens spread throughout the the mall. Chilled though they were, two million joined in the song, "this land is your land, this land is my land..." two million flags waved... Powerful! How proud we all were to be Americans. How proud I am to be an American. And how proud I am of the vote that I cast to make what happened that day on our National Mall possible.

Nothing that anyone could say or do or write upon a sign can ever take that pride away.

So wave your flag, but remember: it is not your flag alone - it is OUR flag.

And when you shout, "Patriot," remember that a liberal can be every bit as much a Patriot as any conservative and a conservative can betray his country as quickly as can a liberal. Liberals also wear the uniform. Liberals also shed their blood for America. They die right alongside conservatives, as Americans.

Read the full post HERE.

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Many thanks to Bill Hess for giving us permission to post this excerpt! We are big fans of Bill Hess. He has the most amazing posts and pictures. Never have we been able to get better insights into life in Wasilla and Alaska. Please check out his blog!

In addition, I would like to post a fabulous new clip by "New Left Media" - which is a project formed by Chase Whiteside and Erick Stoll, who are currently students at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.

This must-see, highly entertaining and revealing footage was taken on April 15, 2010 in Washington D.C.

I just love the clips of these two guys, because it's an excellent example of what citizen's can achieve in the new media world. In their numerous clips, they thoroughly exposed the fans of Sarah Palin and the teabaggers as ignorant, shockingly uneducated and sometimes often as just plain crazy. Easy targets for Fox News, Sarah Palin and the others - rarely have we seen a group of people which basically is screaming to be manipulated, because they just WANT to believe the propaganda which is fed to them.

Amongst other things, this new clip contains a crazy female singer screaming on stage "There is a communist living in the White House", a teabagger who claims that President Obama "considers banning fishing in America" and even a loony British Lord!

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Sarah Palin is an opportunist - cynical and dangerous

Aides to Sarah Palin have asked the Republican National Committee to remove her name from an invitation that suggests she might attend a series of committee fundraising events timed to coincide with next week's Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans.

Though Palin will speak on Friday at the SRLC, a gathering of top Republican officials and an early cattle call for potential 2012 presidential candidates, the former Alaska governor will not be participating in any RNC fundraising event, a Palin adviser told CNN.

It's difficult to make sense of the moves made by Sarah Palin's camp. Some decisions and statements from former aides were already a bit chaotic, but Meg Stapleton seemed more predictable. Since Meg was pushed under the bus by Jason Recher, things have become even more puzzling.

We have to keep jumping back and forth to guess what the master plan might be. What's driving the bus forward? Politics? Money? Religion?

Sarah Palin went rogue on purpose. Without any particular allegiance, she can slip into whatever mode seems more profitable at the time. She supported some Republican candidates and became the Queen of the Teabaggers, pushing her simplistic anti-government agenda. She tried to be the reincarnation of Ronald Reagan, but hasn't mentioned his name in a long time, so perhaps that didn't work out very well.

Sarah Palin has been exploring a number of different avenues since she quit as governor for the good of Alaska. Author, Fox News contributor, TV presenter, speaker, Facebook blogger, twitterer. Her main aim is to stay in the headlines. If a controversy is not readily available, she creates one. And she has props for each occasion. Her family, Alaska, the Republicans, the Teabaggers, God, unborn children, Israel, the military... they are all props.

SarahPac made some eleventh hour token donations to political candidates in order to justify its existence, but in reality it seems to be a nice piggy bank for Sarah Palin and her cronies.

Sarah Palin is a cynical opportunist. If she made her money in the same way as Octomom or the Gosselins, if she grew an extra head and became a freakshow, if she decided to fake another fifteen pregnancies for a reality show, if she made millions of dollars from any of these things, all would be well. The problem is that politics is her main theme. That's why she's dangerous.



This following was no.5 in the top ten 2009 editorial cartoons in the TIME annual competition:



Sarah Palin already appears in several other categories. I hope her targets and inflammatory rhetoric won't find their way into some sinister list in 2010.



She's not the only dangerous person around but seems to be one of the most pernicious and high profile among many. Others may have genuine concerns and are driven by their fears. Sarah Palin's sole motivation appears to be money and she doesn't care about the consequences of her poisonous statements, it's all about her bank balance...

Take the money away and Sarah Palin, with her "servant's heart," would sit down and shut up very quickly.

(Our friend Ennealogic has a very good and very graphic analysis of Sarah Palin's metaphors)
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Sarah Palin runs out of steam in Nevada, and hecklers experience the limits of freedom of speech - UPDATE! Letter from "heckler" Ethan Elder!

Sarah Palin had a busy day. In the morning, she campaigned in Arizona together with John McCain. For them, the event didn't go as planned. During her speech, Sarah Palin was heckled - twice. When the first heckling happened, her voice immediately changed to that of a mean schoolgirl with the high-pitched sound we know all too well:

The heckler, Ethan Elder from Arizona, was brutally removed from the hall. Here is a picture:

UPDATE!

We have a new video showing the heckling and the removal of Ethan Elder - and this time, it's even more shocking! It becomes much clearer how aggressively the crowd behaved towards Ethan - mob rule! The video includes some annotations by a Palinbot. Watch (I recommend full screen!):



ANOTHER UPDATE!

A new video has emerged, which shows even better how violently Ethan Elder, who was walking to the exit already at this point, was grabbed by Palin's and McCain's supporters and then removed from the hall.

Ethan also told me in an email-message today that he is considering a lawsuit because of the violation of his rights. I would say, go for it, Ethan!

He also told me today that he and his friend Alex are very happy about the strong support coming from the blogsphere.

As it turns out, he was there together with a second young man called Alex who later heckled Sarah Palin during her speech again. Here is the video of the second heckler being wrestled to the ground, subdued, arrested and escorted away:

ABC15.com has more details:

"But just as Palin took the podium, hecklers began to disrupt the former Alaska governor.

Witnesses said one of the hecklers was pulled up by the hair by a McCain/Palin supporter.

As the man -- who said his name is Alex -- was taken out of the auditorium, he is seen in video being tackled by three men, one identified as a police officer in plain clothes, a man in a McCain T-shirt, and another man.

Witnesses say another protestor was also punched by someone in the crowd.

Ethan Elder was taken into custody by police, but was later released.

Police say no arrests were made and nobody is facing charges.

"I shouted my message. My intention was to speak my political opinion and leave peacefully," Elder said. "I was immediately assaulted by the crowd. They turned angry and belligerent."

Some protestors complained that the Palin/McCain supporters who attacked them were not taken into custody or charged by police.

Meantime, McCain supporters called some of the protestors rude and wondered why they would attend a rally for McCain if they don't agree with him.

Alex said the group of detractors went to the rally with the intent of disrupting Saturday's event."

On the first youtube video above which I posted in my "doublegrandmapalin" youtube account, Ethan Elder aka "azcarpetman" commented 3 hours ago:

"Let me just say that I was the who shouted "He sold us to the corporations in the bail out bill" I was physically assaulted and put into a choke hold by fans. Then i was led outside and cuffed. I was not charged with anything. My friend is in the other video being arrested as well. People need to wake up."

I believe that this comment is genuine. UPDATE: An internet search has confirmed that "azcarpetman" is indeed Ethan Elder, the first heckler! His friend Alex in the second video shouted "I hate Obama. I don't like Obama. I'm a libertarian!", therefore it's obvious that these protesters don't consider themselves to be liberals, but neither are they McCain supporters. It's rather telling that the hecklers were libertarians, as these people are sometimes regarded as the "real" teabaggers. Sarah Palin and John McCain however claimed in their speeches today that the teabaggers are part of the Republican party - and therefore they try to "suffocate" the teabaggers at the same time. The brutal treatment of these protesters is almost symbolic.

It doesn't matter for us whether these protesters are libertarians or Obama fans. Their treatment was despicable. Sarah Palin and her faithful Palinbots have no interest in freedom of speech. You have the right to hail Queen Sarah - if you don't agree with her, you could face a rough time. I was pretty shocked, as were some of our commenters on Palingates today, that the crowd in Arizona in the morning was in a "nazi like frenzy". Where is this supposed to lead? This looked like the competition "Who is the biggest demagogue in town".

In the afternoon, Sarah Palin spoke in Nevada, in Harry Reid's district, and she delivered what was one of the worst speeches of her career. It was clearly not her day, and she tried her best to spew as much vitriol at the "Obama/Pelosi/Reid gang" as she could. Her voice was a mess, her talking points were moronic, she was glued to her script, and I am pretty sure that Harry Reid had a good laugh:

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UPDATE:

On his facebook, Ethan Elder gives more details about what happened and about his opinions, - and he clearly is not publicity shy ;-) His facebook also confirms that he has libertarian views.

Some of his comments from today:

"Watch!!!!!! ALEX AND I ARRESTED AND ASSAULTED AT MCCAIN RALLY!!! WAKE UP!! WATCH MY INTERVIEW AND OTHER VID. IT WILL BE ON NEWS."

"This is me yelling at palin. I said "John Mccain sold us out to the corporations in the bail out bill" Then as i tried to leav, i was attacked by the attendees. They put me in a choke hold until unmarked cops came and cuffed me. Wake up people, watch the news for my interview."

"Alex and I protested and heckled mccain and palin. This is what happens to us. More to come. Watch the news. Wake up america, the movment is beggining"

This was the "public preparation" on facebook for the events today:

"Anyone want to crash john Mccain and Sarah Palins rally this saturday at Dobson High. The more the better. Lets give this neo-con some quality advice. I cant wait to see him stammer in frustration in front of the whole audience lmfao!!! I'm serious though so dont tell me you will come if you wont."

"you want to join anthony? We are up to nine people so far. At staggared intervals we could interrupt his entire speech. Mccain is a self-righteos lying turncoat son of a bitch. Palin is his ignorant celebrity gimp for arousing bored christian mothers"

"crash them! lol. it would be hard on your lonesome. Im talking to my frineds parents today who are hardcore libeterians that might come to. they support either way."

UPDATE 2:

A few hours ago, I contacted "azcarpetman" Ethan Elder over youtube. At this point I was still asking for a confirmation of his identity, which is now not in doubt any more.

I am happy to say that Ethan Elder just responded to me, and the following is what he wrote (unedited). Thanks a lot, Ethan! Here is his message:

"Hi Patrick

Please excuse the grammatical and syntax errors as I have been responding to people all day. I guess I'll start with introductions. I am Ethan Elder, a freshman at ASU majoring in Industrial Engineering. As far as proof goes, you are free to look at my facebook page. Also, abc15.com covered the event with a less slanted angle and included my name. My friend and I do not support either the Democrats or the Republicans. If you could, please make it clear that I am in no way a Obama Supporter.

I attended the rally to voice my opinion peacefully. I feel that John Mccain represents a neoconservtive movement that has infiltrated the republican party and tainted conservative principles. The exact words I yelled out was : "He( mccain) sold us to the corporations in the bail out bill". I yelled several more times in response to Palins dismissal and then attempted to leave. I was then attacked by the nearby supporters arround me. I was pulled, shoved and punched in multiple directions and then a man came up from behind and put me in a headlock. I nearly past out, but wasnt concerned about that (to tell you the truth I was glad that they exposed their immaturity and irrationality).

I assaulted no one, and used no explicit language inside the building. One of the men who came up and grabbed me was an unmarked cop ( the man without a hat) and led me out. I was then thrown to the ground and arrested in the same manner as my friend. I was confused because since the cops failed to identify themselves till later, I had no idea who they were. Again, only one unmarked cop grabbed me from inside. The rest were Angy protesters.

I could of pressed charges for assault but chose not to. After i left and the speech continued, my friend yelled out as well after Palin remarked on the deficit. he said from something along the lines of "The war on terror is whats putting us in debt". He was then also attacked by the crowd and thrown outside. My local nbc news channel has an exccellent angle of the physical assaults he recieved inside from the attendees. We also have a video from the other end of the bleachers of him we have yet to compile and post. We were detained there, then we were both released without any charges. As for my motivations? Mccain is a neocon. Palin is as well. They do not represent conservative values. They preach war mongering and fallacious misconstrued information about there involvement with the financial collapse. This is just a summary, I would be willing to provide a more adequate account concering my motivations however if you have any specific questions."

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UPDATE 3:

Want to see some REAL hecklers? Just take a look at the teabaggers, Sarah Palin's crowd. They love to exercise their right of free speech, love to scream at members of Congress, harrass them and to spit on them. Spit on them? Well, Fox News didn't believe it, and Tea Party groups offered a $ 15k reward for proof of the incident!

It looks like they will have to cough up the money - Huffington Post now released the video of the incident:

The teabaggers are a mob, nothing else - free speech only applies to them. See what happens if somebody shows dissent - they DO NOT appreciate it at all:

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UPDATE 4:

I just spotted something. On the video with the spitting incident I just posted above, from about 2:20 onwards, you can clearly see a flag in the background which is a variation of the original nazi swastika flag. These type of flags are very popular amongst neo nazis so that they don't have to display the real swastika - it's a code:

This flag or a variant which is very, very close has actually been used at a violent incident in Los Angeles before, as we learn from this educational website about flags.

Here is a comparison between the already know nazi-symbol (as explained on this website) and the flag that was shown at the teabaggers rally in Washington (many thanks to EyeOnYou!):

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EDIT:

I was forced to make an addition to "update 4" because I have seen in comments which were left on the "Congressman spitting" youtube video and also on blogs that some people persistently claim that the flag in the background is not a nazi flag, but the state flag of Tennessee!

Well, here is the state flag of Tennessee - does it look ANYTHING like that? Do you people need new glasses or what? Look:

Anybody who still claims that the flag in the background is the state flag of Tennessee has to be either blind or ignorant...

(end of edit)

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Why am I not surprised?

But Sean Hannity would probably say now: "What? This good American just doesn't discriminate against the color red and was creative!"
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Sarah Palin, Down syndrome, Twitter, the military, health care reform... Oh no! It must be the end of the world! - UPDATE: HEALTHCARE REFORM PASSED!

Today is World Down Syndrome Day.

Down Syndrome International (DSI) has officially earmarked 21 March as World Down Syndrome Day (WDSD). The date was chosen to signify the uniqueness of Down syndrome in the triplication (trisomy) of the 21st chromosome and is used synonymously with Down syndrome. Commemoration of World Down Syndrome Day started on 21 March 2006, it has " grown " manifold globally.

The annual observance of WDSD aims to promote awareness and understanding of Down syndrome and related issues : and to mobilise support and recognition of the dignity, rights and well being of persons with Down syndrome.

Awareness is not Sarah Palin's forte. Her only link to the Down syndrome world is the use of Trig as a prop. I wonder if she's going to twitter something about DSI day? She might, after she reads about it here...

So you don't have to go through the comments to find this, I'm going to put it here. It came from our friend StephiLou:

Today is World Down Syndrome Day! I "borrowed" my list here from Beth - with permission. FYI for all....

World DS Day is the 21st day of the third month of the year. The date represents the 3 copies of the 21st chromosome. Kinda cute. Now someone explain how October became Down Syndrome Awareness Month??

1. Learn more about Down syndrome! Here is a link to some Myths and Facts about Ds. Did you know that 80% of babies born with Down syndrome are born to women under the age of 35? I know teenagers who have had babies with Down syndrome.

2. Talk to your children about people with differences. The way I explain Down syndrome to young children who are curious is to say that when a baby is first growing inside the mother there are directions inside the baby that tell it how to grow, what color hair and eyes it will have and how tall it will be. A baby with Down syndrome has an extra set of directions, which makes it more difficult for the baby to grow and develop. A baby with Down syndrome can learn to do all the things that a typical baby can do, it just takes longer to learn because of all the extra directions. Older kids can learn about chromosomes and how individuals with Down syndrome have an extra 21st chromosome. The medical name for Down syndrome is Trisomy 21. With your children, share what you know, and admit what you don't know about cognitive disabilities.

3. See if your library has current information about Down syndrome. Do a quick online search of your library’s listings for Ds. If they have no books that have been written in the past 5-7 years, please ask them to update their books. Any non-fiction book older than 15 years should be removed from the shelves.

4. Visit Reece’s Rainbow, an international Down syndrome adoption ministry. Learn more about how children with Down syndrome are treated in other countries. It is much like the United States treated individuals with cognitive disabilities 50 years ago. Consider supporting a child’s adoption with a monetary donation. I have given donations in honor of my mother for Mother’s Day.

5. Write a short note to your legislators telling them that you want them to fund the Prenatally and Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act (the Kennedy-Brownback bill). Currently up to 90% of all prenatally diagnosed fetuses with Down syndrome are aborted. It’s important to understand that this is not about pro-life or pro-choice, but rather about providing parents with needed data and support. Unfortunately the worst presenters of a diagnosis of Down syndrome today are medical professionals because there are no mechanisms to train them, to teach them how to deliver that diagnosis and to present the options, all of the options.

6. If you’re a woman, start a conversation with your OB/Gyn about concerns you may have about getting accurate information to families that receive a prenatal diagnosis. Prenatal testing is soon going to change, and the OBs are the first to deliver unexpected news. Bring the doctor a copy of this research.

7. Watch a movie featuring a person with a disability: Emma’s Gifts (I’m biased since Hannah and I have cameos in this documentary), Duo, The Other Sister (which I think is pretty funny). **NEW** watch The Specials an online documentary/reality show following young adults with disabilities in England. Each episode is only about 10 minutes long.

8. Contact your local Down syndrome parent support group (just Google Down syndrome and your geographic area) and email them to see what sorts of ways you could help. Usually volunteers to assist with childcare, programs and events are more than welcome!

9. "Dreams in Reality". Watch this short online video for some inspiration.

10. Remove the word “retarded” from your everyday speech. It used to be a medical term (as did the words “idiot”, “imbecile” and “moron”), but has become such a derogatory word that it is on its way out. The new “R-word” is Respect.

Thanks, Steph!

(H/T to H S)

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Talking about Twitter, this is one of Sarah Palin's latest gems:


Duh, the same way the millions of underpaid or unemployed Americans do!

Why is she so concerned about how the troops will be able to purchase insurance when HCR passes? Why is government sponsored health care good for the military but really, really bad for the rest of Americans?

The military should do their duty and contribute to the ever growing profits of the insurance companies Sarah Palin believes can do the job a lot better. The military have been unAmerican by Sarah's standards, they haven't supported 1/6 of the economy by shopping around for coverage and stimulating healthy competition. That's the "Real American" way, darn it!

The sooner the Health Care Reform bill is passed into law, the better.

Then we could have break from the Queen Quitter Twitter, her wigs, lip gloss and inane ramblings on Fox News, Facebook and Twitter.

And Sarah and her teabaggers will realize the world didn't come to an end.

Sarah, please sit down and shut up. Pretty please...?

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UPDATE:

It's a great day for America and a massive and highly deserved defeat for the Republicans and the radical and dangerous right-wingers that are slowly taking over the Republican party.

The House has passed the healthcare reform 219 - 212.

Suck it up, Sarah Palin!

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Sarah Palin's obsession with the hand

Sarah Palin is obsessed with the hand. She brought it up again at the Right to Life event in Ohio last night.

We reported exclusively back in January that the tickets for the private reception at this gig were being sold for $1,000. The less affluent paid $40 for general admission.

Do you think it was good value for money, at $40 or $1,000 (with a copy of Going Rogue thrown in) to listen to a hand obsessed anecdote that she had already used a couple of nights before on The Tonight Show?





Sarah used the hand while campaigning for Rick Perry in Texas, "Hi Mom!"




It all started with the crib notes at the teabaggers ball, of course.




Poor woman, somebody needs to write some new material for her comedy routines, this hand thing is getting a bit stale...
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Sarah Palin's affair with the Tea Party is over - she cashed in her $100,000 and said good bye.

Examiner commented on Sarah Palin's speech in Arkansas:

Yesterday at an event hosted by the Arkansas Republican Party, Sarah Palin told the audience that the Tea Party is not strong enough to field its own candidates on a Tea Party ticket so they need to pick a Party, preferably the Republican Party.

"Now the smart thing will be for independents who are such a part of this Tea Party movement to, I guess, kind of start picking a party," Palin said. "Which party reflects how that smaller, smarter government steps to be taken? Which party will best fit you? And then because the Tea Party movement is not a party, and we have a two-party system, they’re going to have to pick a party and run one or the other: ‘R’ or ‘D’."

Sarah Palin is a shameless opportunist and is using the Tea Party movement as yet another political prop. She spins and lies to suit her own needs.

Sarah Palin answering pre-approved questions after her speech in Arkansas

She said about her fee to speak at the Tea party convention:

"The speaker's fee will go right back into the cause. I'll be able to donate it to people and those events, those things that I believe in, that will help perpetuate the message, the message being: Government, you have constitutional limits. You better start abiding by them."

Sarah Palin made sure she had enough wriggle room when she said that. The teabaggers believed she would use the money to support their candidates. They do have candidates...

Palin marginalized the Tea Party with her saying that they are not capable of running their own candidate and then ridicules them some more by saying that its time to pick either the “R” or the “D”. Palin knows that they have already qualified candidates in some States such as Nevada where the Tea Party is now recognized and they are running their own candidate against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).

So, Sarah didn't commit to supporting any particular party, but has consistently endorsed and campaigned Republican candidates, apart from Rand Paul. The only reason she supports and donates to any candidates at all is to justify her SarahPac, a great money earner for herself and her "consultants".

The sentence "I'll be able to donate it to people and those events, those things that I believe in" really means that she will keep the money, thank you very much, because the only thing she believes in is her growing bank account. Perhaps she realized she can make more money from the Republicans...
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Sarah Palin's empty promises

When Sarah Palin was criticized about her large fee for addressing the teabaggers convention in Nashville, she told Greta Van Susteren:

"The speaker's fee will go right back into the cause. I'll be able to donate it to people and those events, those things that I believe in, that will help perpetuate the message, the message being: Government, you have constitutional limits. You better start abiding by them."

Back in September 2008, Sarah Palin made a similar promise:

Gov. Sarah Palin, touted by Republican presidential nominee John McCain as a reformer when he picked her to be his running mate, says she will donate to charity more than $1,000 in campaign contributions from two Alaska politicians implicated in a federal corruption probe.

Palin said Thursday she also is giving back $1,000 from the wife of one of the men. The move came a few hours after The Associated Press reported that Palin had accepted the money during her successful 2006 run for governor. Palin was elected easily after she promised to rid Alaska's capital of dirty politics.

"Gov. Palin has made a career of holding herself to the highest standards of ethics. As soon as the governor learned of the donations today, she immediately decided to donate them to charity," campaign spokesman Taylor Griffin said.

We have received some interesting information about the Palin/Parnell campaign disclosure statements.

Sarah Palin did attempt to give the "bad" money to charity. The only problem was her ignorance of the laws governing her own state. Here are the copies of letters exchanged between the campaign treasurer and APOC:




The carryover reports shown below reveal a curious fact.








The screenshots show that the balance remained exactly the same as in the report submitted right after the gubernatorial campaign. That was to be expected.

Sarah Palin couldn't give anything to charity. She can't touch that money at all because she's not a candidate for any state elective office.

The only way she would be able to spend any of the $49,540.30 would be to close the campaign account, disperse the funds and submit a final report, which has not happened, as we can see below. Another alternative would be for Sarah to run for office, so she could quit...again!



Not one dollar was returned to any donors or given to any charities.


Sarah Palin did not attempt to make any changes to the rules while she had the authority as governor of the state of Alaska. If she had, that would have enabled her and other candidates in the same situation to make charitable donations or return the money to certain donors. After all, Sarah Palin championed the remarkable ethics legislation, didn't she?

Why does Sarah Palin still have a "Palin for Governor" account when she didn't want to be a "lame duck" and dislikes "politics as usual"? What is she going to do with nearly $50,000 and when?

Her grand gesture during the vice presidential campaign was just that, an empty promise she would not keep.

This is typical Sarah Palin modus operandi: all talk, no knowledge, no action and no credibility.

Do we detect a pattern?

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Let the Teabaggers do the talking!

This has to be seen to be believed. (Let it load for a while before pressing "play". It's a bit slow...)

Mike Smith / Las Vegas Sun / King Feature Syndicate


Mike Peters / Dayton Daily News / King Features Syndicate

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Sarah Palin, teabaggers, ego, greed and lies...

Sarah Palin wrote (cough cough) an op-ed for Usa Today, explaining her reasons for speaking at the Teabaggers convention in Nashville. Some sections didn't go unnoticed:

Later this week I'll head to Nashville, where I'll have the honor of speaking with members of the Tea Party movement. I look forward to meeting many Americans who share a commitment to limited government, common sense and personal responsibility. This movement is truly a grassroots, organic effort. It's not a top-down organization; it's a ground-up call to action that already has both political parties rethinking the way they do business.

Recently, some have tried to portray this movement as a commercial endeavor rather than the grassroots uprising that it is. Those who do so don't understand the frustration everyday Americans feel when they see their government mortgaging their children's future with reckless spending. The spark of patriotic indignation that inspired those who fought for our independence and those who marched peacefully for civil rights has ignited once again. You can't buy such a sentiment. You can't AstroTurf it. It springs from love of country and the knowledge that we can make a difference if we just stand up and stand together.

I thought long and hard about my participation in this weekend's event. At the end of the day, my decision came down to this: It's important to keep faith with people who put a little bit of their faith in you. Everyone attending this event is a soldier in the cause. Some of them will be driving hundreds of miles to Nashville. I made a commitment to them to be there, and I am going to honor it.

But participation won't be limited to those in Nashville who have a ticket. It's much bigger than that. Because the Tea Party movement is spread out across the country — with no central offices or annual events — this is an opportunity to connect with like-minded folks. Yes, there will be speeches given in a room in Nashville. But we'll also be speaking with thousands of Americans watching online at twitter.com/SarahPalinUSA, or through various news outlets. And the conversation will continue on my Facebook page.

I will not benefit financially from speaking at this event. My only goal is to support the grassroots activists who are fighting for responsible, limited government — and our Constitution. In that spirit, any compensation for my appearance will go right back to the cause.

Sarah Palin skirted the subject of Tea Party Nation being a commercial endeavour. She didn't elaborate on it and quickly changed the subject.

Sarah says she's committed to the cause and will speak because she's keeping faith with people who put faith in her, that the faithful are going to travel hundreds of miles to drink from her fountain of knowledge. It's not the money, nooo...

How will the compensation go right back to the cause? There is a maximum that can be donated to PACs, provided she is allowed to make contributions to SarahPac herself. FEC rules are very difficult to search and somewhat confusing. Will she put her hand in her pocket (God forbid!) and donate directly to various teabagging candidates? Will we have to check each candidate's disclosures to spot her name as a donor and add them all up until the total reaches $115,000 less the Washington Speakers bureau cut?

Sarah knows nobody will check. (The SarahPac financial disclosure alone is migraine inducing and points to some dodgy dealings. The majority of donations to candidates were made almost as an afterthought, at the last possible minute.)

Words are cheap, Ms Palin. We want to see the deeds.

I love how Sarah changed her tune on the rules about broadcasting her speech. It started with the usual proviso of no cameras or other recording devices allowed. Then it was open to friendly media only. Now it's a free for all and all about Sarah... her twitter, her Facebook page. At least she included other media outlets. So far, the broadcasting of the event is been negotiated with PJTV, FOX News, CNN and Reuters TV.

Sarah Palin's greed and ego match each other in their monumental proportions. Her mendacity is in a category all by itself...
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Sarah Palin at the Tea Party - a storm in a half-empty teacup - UPDATE

The Teabaggers are not a very happy bunch.

Mother Jones reports:

Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips likely assumed that scoring a dinner speech by the former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential candidate would guarantee a huge turnout for his National Tea Party Convention, scheduled to start Feb. 4 at Nashville's Gaylord Opryland Hotel. But according to Tea Party insiders, the tickets for the Palin banquet aren't selling—and some conservative activists who have already paid to attend are now demanding refunds. With the controversial event shaping up to be a potential flop, some Tea Partiers are urging Palin to cancel her speech to avoid a humiliating public relations disaster.

According to internal convention planning documents obtained by Mother Jones, Palin will be paid $115,000 to address the attendees—as they dine on steak or lobster. To some Tea Partiers, this lavish affair sounds suspiciously like an exclusive GOP fundraiser and a betrayal of their grassroots movement. (In mid-January, Palin told Fox News' Bill O'Reilly that she will not profit from her appearance at the convention, suggesting she would donate her speaking fee to Republican candidates. But she has not provided any details on that, and a Palin spokesperson did not respond to requests for clarification.)

Anthony Shreeve is an activist in Dandridge, Tenn. who quit the convention organizing committee over the expensive ticket prices. He says he has it on good authority that most of the approximately 500 speech-only tickets have not been sold. Shreeve adds that Phillips "isn't going to sell any more," and says other would-be attendees have been demanding—and receiving—refunds. Late on Tuesday afternoon, I tested his claim by attempting to buy 10 tickets to the dinner. If I’d been prepared to shell out $3,587.10, that would apparently have been no problem. "I really hope that Sarah Palin doesn’t come to this event because it's going to be really embarrassing for her to walk into a half-empty room," says Shreeve.

According to the internal Tea Party Nation documents, organizers were depending on Palin’s speech to lure a much larger crowd to the banquet in order to turn a profit. Based on cost estimates used by the organizers in the planning documents, if 1,100 people attend the banquet (600 of whom would also attend the convention), the event would cost the organizers about $401,200, including Palin's $115,000 speaking fee. If all the tickets are sold—both the $549 all-access tickets and the $349 dinner-only tickets—Phillips' group would net about $102,700. But if few of the banquet-only tickets are sold, the organizers are likely to end up seriously in the hole, depending on how much the group had to pay in advance to the hotel, which is charging $120 per person for the dinner. Shreeve observes, "It wouldn't surprise me if [Phillips] ends up filing for bankruptcy the day after."

Will she or won't she? Sarah Palin has pulled out of other events at the last minute, so it wouldn't be out-of-character if she pulled out of this crazy tea party. With only one week left until the event, we won't have too long a wait to find out. Of course, the organizers could give away the unsold tickets:

Tami Kilmarx, a nurse in Nashville who also resigned from the Tea Party Nation convention planning committee after falling out with Phillips, believes the convention may ultimately "completely disintegrate." She says that Phillips has been urged to give away remaining tickets to Palin’s speech to head off the embarrassment of having the former vice presidential candidate speaking to a half-empty room.

Or Sarah could ask her friend Dr Cathy Baldwin-Johnson to provide her with a sicknote:

Given all the negative publicity, Shreeve is surprised Palin hasn’t pulled out already. "In her contract she is allowed to send a representative if she can't make it if she's sick or something. Maybe she’ll come down with the flu," he says with a laugh.


Let's wait and see...

Sarah Palin, the elites, the media...

Sarah Palin is very contradictory regarding what she calls the "elite". Her definition of elite is simplistic, as expected.



She says she's fighting for the little man, for the struggling middle class and her fight is against those who believe they are better than everybody else. As usual, she didn't really address the question, her answer was trite and childish.

Ironically, taking into account Sarah Palin's own definition of elite, in "Going Rogue" she blows her own trumpet from beginning to end. She was a fantastic basketball player, a gifted fisherwoman, moose hunter extraordinaire, an insightful, ethical politician who took on the establishment and single handedly put them in their place. She had the courage to ruffle the feathers of the big oil corporations. (This is a no-brainer, what are they going to do? Take their oil and go somewhere else?) She speaks of God as if she was chosen as his pet project.

How are all these self-descriptions not indicative of Sarah Palin's belief that she's better than everybody else? Oh well, she paints herself as little old me from Wasilla, the outsider, the underdog, so she's really humble, you see?

Sarah Palin has a servant's heart. She's concerned about the have-nots.

But she chooses which elites she despises very carefully. Some elites are perfectly acceptable.

Fat cats in the health insurance industry? They rented Sarah Palin's Facebook page at the height of the healthcare reform debate. They are a "good" elite. (I wonder if their "contribution" to their mouthpice will show up in her tax returns or the SarahPac accounts...)

She's all for giving the rest of the fat cats in any industry tax breaks, Reagan style, so their wealth trickles down, blah blah.

The economic elite is ok with her. Now she's one of their members, but as she would say, she worked her butt off to get there.

Sarah Palin's main beef is with the intellectual elite. She has no hope of entering it, and in order to distance herself from them even further, she maintains a tabloid image. Mother and daughter bringing up their babies together, bathing babies in the kitchen sink, party guests wearing hoodies and track suits were all part of the In Touch magazine spread. The Palins no doubt set up the domestic scene themselves or went along with whoever came up with it and approved the content of the article as it appeared in the magazine.

The message seems to be that although she's now very rich, her family is still the same as other "real" American families. Her supporters are definitely not part of any elite. So that they don't feel threatened by her new found wealth, she gives them the opportunity to identify with her on a personal level. She's still valley trash and proud of it.

The "Going Rogue" book tour counted on her mom and dad, her younger kids and an aunt, in a most convincing tour-de-force to reinforce the "I'm one of you" image. Her supporters couldn't get enough of it and were thrilled to bits to shake Chuck Heath's hand or have a moment with her mom. They're so normal, so real!



One branch of the intellectual elite is the liberal media. They make Sarah Palin foam at the mouth.

The McCain/Palin campaign had a big problem with them.

Matthew Continetti wrote a book, "The Persecution of Sarah Palin: How the Elite Media Tried to Bring Down a Rising Star", which came out long before "Game Change". The editorial review on Amazon states:

As the second woman ever nominated as a candidate for vice president, Alaska governor Sarah Palin became an instant phenomenon. Americans were enthralled by a woman with charm, ambition, natural political talent, and a passion for conservative values.

But the fascination of ordinary people quickly drew an unprecedented attack from the media elite and liberal activists. Far beyond the normal bounds of tough questions and challenges, Palin's enemies decided that nothing was too personal to attack-including her marriage, her children, her faith, and her ward­robe. The media distorted Palin's positions and beliefs beyond recognition. And almost every word out of her mouth was spun as a "flub."

Weekly Standard writer Matthew Continetti reveals the true story of the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee and her persecution by the elites who tried to hide their bias with solemn declarations of objectivity. Continetti offers fresh examples of malicious spin and deceit and shows how liberal snobbery has become a driving force in American politics.

Palin's ordeal has become a rallying cry for the GOP in the Obama era. This perceptive book is a must-read for conservatives who want to understand what really happened-and how to avoid a repeat.

The media was actually very kind to Sarah Palin and continues to give her a pass to this day. She is their cash cow. It's not in their interest to bring her down for good. If they really reported the truth, after the initial spike in interest, she would become a non-person, a hasbeen, not the best subject to attract readers and juicy revenue for media outlets. So they report her Facebook and Twitter rantings as if she should be taken seriously. They report her family scandals without going deep enough, always relegating them to the tabloid, sensationalist media. Why kill the goose that lays golden eggs?

Sarah Palin appears to have survived the revelations that emerged with the publication of "Game Change" and is now a political comentator on Fox News, a million miles away from the liberal media, where she's going to give a "fair and balanced" view of everything.

Tabloids, Fox News, teabagging... she's not part of the elite, that's for sure. Sarah Palin is just a filthy rich opportunist, without an ounce of class and monumentally ignorant.

Dictionary definition of elite:

"A group or class of persons or a member of such a group or class, enjoying superior intellectual, social, or economic status."
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